Method and apparatus for crowdsourced vehicle identification

ABSTRACT

A system includes a processor configured to obtain an image of a vehicle plate. The processor is also configured to determine identification characters present in the image. The processor is further configured to compare the identification characters to a list of sought-vehicle plates and report a match between the identification characters and a plate on the list of sought-vehicle plates.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The illustrative embodiments generally relate to a method and apparatusfor crowdsourced vehicle identification.

BACKGROUND

A current deliverable focus of many automotive original equipmentmanufacturers (OEMs) is mobility and mobility-related solutions.Customers want the benefits of a networked environment, and thisenvironment can be enhanced through crowdsourcing. Further, if given theoption, many customers would participate in crowdsourcing that can helpadd information to a network from which those customers benefit. At thesame time, participants like to maintain a level of privacy (e.g., aparticipant in crowdsourcing information at his/her vehicle location maynot want personal location information transmitted, tracked, andassociated with the vehicle at all times). One application that canbenefit from crowdsourcing is locating missing assets.

One present example of plate identification includes an identificationdevice characterized in that: a video camera is connected with an imageprocessing circuit; the image processing circuit is connected with alicense plate positioning circuit; the license plate positioning circuitis connected with a license plate character segmentation circuit; thelicense plate character segmentation circuit is connected with a licenseplate character identification circuit; and the license plate characteridentification circuit is connected with a computer. The imageprocessing technology for vehicle license plate identification has theadvantages and beneficial effects that: the work is automatic and theinstallation is convenient.

In another example, a method for identifying vehicle license platesincludes mounting a server apparatus, and establishing a vehicledatabase and a vehicle license plate identification library in theserver apparatus to generate vehicle data and a vehicle license plateidentification program; establishing a communication link, and receivingthe vehicle data and the vehicle license plate identification program bythe mobile device, and installing the vehicle license plateidentification program and storing the vehicle data; capturing a licenseplate number of a vehicle by a camera module mounted in the mobiledevice for generating an image and then analyzing the plate number inthe image by an analyzing program to generate an analysis result;comparing the analysis result with the vehicle data by a comparisonmodule of the mobile device for generating a comparison result; anddisplaying the comparison result.

In yet another example, a vehicle tracking and locating system providesinformation to a user about a vehicle of interest, and includes adatabase controller in operative communication with a database, andconfigured to receive data corresponding to vehicles from a plurality ofclient sources, and configured to save the data as information recordscorresponding to each client source. A plurality of externalcommunication devices transmit a data request by the user correspondingto the vehicle of interest. A request server receives the data requestin one a variety of communication formats. An input request processoroperatively coupled to the request server is configured to obtaininformation records from the database corresponding to the data request.An output processor operatively coupled to the request server providesdata of interest from the obtained information records for transmissionto the respective communication device to satisfy the user request.

SUMMARY

In a first illustrative example, a system includes a processorconfigured to obtain an image of a vehicle plate. The processor is alsoconfigured to determine identification characters present in the image.The processor is further configured to compare the identificationcharacters to a list of sought-vehicle plates and report a match betweenthe identification characters and a plate on the list of sought-vehicleplates.

In a second illustrative embodiment, a system includes a processorconfigured to receive a locate request to find a vehicle plate. Theprocessor is also configured to verify that the vehicle plate iseligible as a search-subject. The processor is further configured tosend a search request to reporting vehicles for a search for the vehicleplate. Also, the processor is configured to receive a match from a firstreporting vehicle, responsive to the search request and notify the userof the match corresponding to the vehicle plate.

In a third illustrative embodiment, a system includes a processorconfigured to receive a request to locate a missing vehicle. Theprocessor is also configured to utilize a vehicle system to confirm anidentity of the missing vehicle as a vehicle in proximity to a reportingvehicle containing the processor. The processor is further configured toreport identification of the missing vehicle, as well as a GPS locationof the reporting vehicle, upon confirmation of the identity of themissing vehicle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative vehicle computing system;

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative registration process;

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative tracking request process;

FIGS. 4A and 4B show illustrative processes for vehicle identification;and

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative vehicle tracking reporting process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosedherein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodimentsare merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in variousand alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; somefeatures may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particularcomponents. Therefore, specific structural and functional detailsdisclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as arepresentative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variouslyemploy the present invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example block topology for a vehicle basedcomputing system 1 (VCS) for a vehicle 31. An example of such avehicle-based computing system 1 is the SYNC system manufactured by THEFORD MOTOR COMPANY. A vehicle enabled with a vehicle-based computingsystem may contain a visual front end interface 4 located in thevehicle. The user may also be able to interact with the interface if itis provided, for example, with a touch sensitive screen. In anotherillustrative embodiment, the interaction occurs through, button presses,spoken dialog system with automatic speech recognition and speechsynthesis.

In the illustrative embodiment 1 shown in FIG. 1, a processor 3 controlsat least some portion of the operation of the vehicle-based computingsystem. Provided within the vehicle, the processor allows onboardprocessing of commands and routines. Further, the processor is connectedto both non-persistent 5 and persistent storage 7. In this illustrativeembodiment, the non-persistent storage is random access memory (RAM) andthe persistent storage is a hard disk drive (HDD) or flash memory. Ingeneral, persistent (non-transitory) memory can include all forms ofmemory that maintain data when a computer or other device is powereddown. These include, but are not limited to, HDDs, CDs, DVDs, magnetictapes, solid state drives, portable USB drives and any other suitableform of persistent memory.

The processor is also provided with a number of different inputsallowing the user to interface with the processor. In this illustrativeembodiment, a microphone 29, an auxiliary input 25 (for input 33), a USBinput 23, a GPS input 24, screen 4, which may be a touchscreen display,and a BLUETOOTH input 15 are all provided. An input selector 51 is alsoprovided, to allow a user to swap between various inputs. Input to boththe microphone and the auxiliary connector is converted from analog todigital by a converter 27 before being passed to the processor. Althoughnot shown, numerous of the vehicle components and auxiliary componentsin communication with the VCS may use a vehicle network (such as, butnot limited to, a CAN bus) to pass data to and from the VCS (orcomponents thereof).

Outputs to the system can include, but are not limited to, a visualdisplay 4 and a speaker 13 or stereo system output. The speaker isconnected to an amplifier 11 and receives its signal from the processor3 through a digital-to-analog converter 9. Output can also be made to aremote BLUETOOTH device such as PND 54 or a USB device such as vehiclenavigation device 60 along the bi-directional data streams shown at 19and 21 respectively.

In one illustrative embodiment, the system 1 uses the BLUETOOTHtransceiver 15 to communicate 17 with a user's nomadic device 53 (e.g.,cell phone, smart phone, PDA, or any other device having wireless remotenetwork connectivity). The nomadic device can then be used tocommunicate 59 with a network 61 outside the vehicle 31 through, forexample, communication 55 with a cellular tower 57. In some embodiments,tower 57 may be a WiFi access point.

Exemplary communication between the nomadic device and the BLUETOOTHtransceiver is represented by signal 14.

Pairing a nomadic device 53 and the BLUETOOTH transceiver 15 can beinstructed through a button 52 or similar input. Accordingly, the CPU isinstructed that the onboard BLUETOOTH transceiver will be paired with aBLUETOOTH transceiver in a nomadic device.

Data may be communicated between CPU 3 and network 61 utilizing, forexample, a data-plan, data over voice, or DTMF tones associated withnomadic device 53. Alternatively, it may be desirable to include anonboard modem 63 having antenna 18 in order to communicate 16 databetween CPU 3 and network 61 over the voice band. The nomadic device 53can then be used to communicate 59 with a network 61 outside the vehicle31 through, for example, communication 55 with a cellular tower 57. Insome embodiments, the modem 63 may establish communication 20 with thetower 57 for communicating with network 61. As a non-limiting example,modem 63 may be a USB cellular modem and communication 20 may becellular communication.

In one illustrative embodiment, the processor is provided with anoperating system including an API to communicate with modem applicationsoftware. The modem application software may access an embedded moduleor firmware on the BLUETOOTH transceiver to complete wirelesscommunication with a remote BLUETOOTH transceiver (such as that found ina nomadic device). Bluetooth is a subset of the IEEE 802 PAN (personalarea network) protocols. IEEE 802 LAN (local area network) protocolsinclude WiFi and have considerable cross-functionality with IEEE 802PAN. Both are suitable for wireless communication within a vehicle.Another communication means that can be used in this realm is free-spaceoptical communication (such as IrDA) and non-standardized consumer IRprotocols.

In another embodiment, nomadic device 53 includes a modem for voice bandor broadband data communication. In the data-over-voice embodiment, atechnique known as frequency division multiplexing may be implementedwhen the owner of the nomadic device can talk over the device while datais being transferred. At other times, when the owner is not using thedevice, the data transfer can use the whole bandwidth (300 Hz to 3.4 kHzin one example). While frequency division multiplexing may be common foranalog cellular communication between the vehicle and the internet, andis still used, it has been largely replaced by hybrids of Code DomainMultiple Access (CDMA), Time Domain Multiple Access (TDMA), Space-DomainMultiple Access (SDMA) for digital cellular communication. These are allITU IMT-2000 (3G) compliant standards and offer data rates up to 2 mbsfor stationary or walking users and 385 kbs for users in a movingvehicle. 3G standards are now being replaced by IMT-Advanced (4G) whichoffers 100 mbs for users in a vehicle and 1 gbs for stationary users. Ifthe user has a data-plan associated with the nomadic device, it ispossible that the data-plan allows for broad-band transmission and thesystem could use a much wider bandwidth (speeding up data transfer). Instill another embodiment, nomadic device 53 is replaced with a cellularcommunication device (not shown) that is installed to vehicle 31. In yetanother embodiment, the ND 53 may be a wireless local area network (LAN)device capable of communication over, for example (and withoutlimitation), an 802.11g network (i.e., WiFi) or a WiMax network.

In one embodiment, incoming data can be passed through the nomadicdevice via a data-over-voice or data-plan, through the onboard BLUETOOTHtransceiver and into the vehicle's internal processor 3. In the case ofcertain temporary data, for example, the data can be stored on the HDDor other storage media 7 until such time as the data is no longerneeded.

Additional sources that may interface with the vehicle include apersonal navigation device 54, having, for example, a USB connection 56and/or an antenna 58, a vehicle navigation device 60 having a USB 62 orother connection, an onboard GPS device 24, or remote navigation system(not shown) having connectivity to network 61. USB is one of a class ofserial networking protocols. IEEE 1394 (FireWire™ (Apple), i.LINK™(Sony), and Lynx™ (Texas Instruments)), EIA (Electronics IndustryAssociation) serial protocols, IEEE 1284 (Centronics Port), S/PDIF(Sony/Philips Digital Interconnect Format) and USB-IF (USB ImplementersForum) form the backbone of the device-device serial standards. Most ofthe protocols can be implemented for either electrical or opticalcommunication.

Further, the CPU could be in communication with a variety of otherauxiliary devices 65. These devices can be connected through a wireless67 or wired 69 connection. Auxiliary device 65 may include, but are notlimited to, personal media players, wireless health devices, portablecomputers, and the like.

Also, or alternatively, the CPU could be connected to a vehicle basedwireless router 73, using for example a WiFi (IEEE 803.11) 71transceiver. This could allow the CPU to connect to remote networks inrange of the local router 73.

In addition to having exemplary processes executed by a vehiclecomputing system located in a vehicle, in certain embodiments, theexemplary processes may be executed by a computing system incommunication with a vehicle computing system. Such a system mayinclude, but is not limited to, a wireless device (e.g., and withoutlimitation, a mobile phone) or a remote computing system (e.g., andwithout limitation, a server) connected through the wireless device.Collectively, such systems may be referred to as vehicle associatedcomputing systems (VACS). In certain embodiments particular componentsof the VACS may perform particular portions of a process depending onthe particular implementation of the system. By way of example and notlimitation, if a process has a step of sending or receiving informationwith a paired wireless device, then it is likely that the wirelessdevice is not performing that portion of the process, since the wirelessdevice would not “send and receive” information with itself. One ofordinary skill in the art will understand when it is inappropriate toapply a particular computing system to a given solution.

While the previous solutions to the issues of vehicle tracking allowidentification of a vehicle license plate from an image, and requestinginformation from a database of identified vehicles, much room forimprovement in this area still exists.

The illustrative embodiments present a method to use crowdsourcing toidentify the license plate of a missing car using vehicle cameratechnology combined with a method for private customer control of theinformation and secure transmission of the information.

In these example, no information may be used until the request to searchfor the missing car is made. The method allows the customer to request asearch. When the request for crowdsourcing information is made, thecustomer accesses the a secure database, in which they have enrolled orotherwise have access to. The secure database sends an encrypted list oflicense plate numbers to all participating members' vehicles, where itis decrypted and used within a computer search program. The licenseplate numbers being searched may be never known to anyone but theindividual requestors, who register their plate numbers when they enrollto avoid mischievous or unwarranted use by people searching for otherpeople's cars. The identity of the vehicle taking the picture andsending the information may be randomized/not identified.

Through the examples shown above and herein, a network of anonymousresource vehicles can be used in an on-demand fashion to track downmissing assets, without over-taxing resources or unnecessarily storingvast volumes of unneeded data. Both searcher/participant and resourcevehicle identities can be protected and ensured, and at the same time avast network of resource vehicles can be called on for assistance at thedrop of a hat.

In an illustrative example, a crowdsourcing arrangement would involveenrolling in a service where a customer's vehicle would search for alicense plate number and automatically send a secure encryptedcommunication with the plate, location and time to the cloud when arequested plate number is found.

To enroll, a vehicle owner would supply, for example, their licenseplate number, name, address and VIN. A customer database may confirm theowner information for the VIN supplied, and calls the customerautomatically using a registered phone number to confirm the request isfrom the vehicle owner. If a customer phone number is not registered,then other reliable databases that connect a customer vehicle owner to aphone number may be used.

In each of the illustrative embodiments discussed herein, an exemplary,non-limiting example of a process performable by a computing system isshown. With respect to each process, it is possible for the computingsystem executing the process to become, for the limited purpose ofexecuting the process, configured as a special purpose processor toperform the process. All processes need not be performed in theirentirety, and are understood to be examples of types of processes thatmay be performed to achieve elements of the invention. Additional stepsmay be added or removed from the exemplary processes as desired.

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative registration process. With respect to theillustrative embodiments described in this figure, it is noted that ageneral purpose processor may be temporarily enabled as a specialpurpose processor for the purpose of executing some or all of theexemplary methods shown herein. When executing code providinginstructions to perform some or all steps of the method, the processormay be temporarily repurposed as a special purpose processor, until suchtime as the method is completed. In another example, to the extentappropriate, firmware acting in accordance with a preconfiguredprocessor may cause the processor to act as a special purpose processorprovided for the purpose of performing the method or some reasonablevariation thereof.

In this illustrative example, a user registers as a participant.Depending on an implementation, this may mean the user is electing toallow use of a vehicle for finding other vehicles (i.e., participate inthe crowdsourcing) or may simply be a registration of a particularvehicle for eligibility in being tracked down. For example, in onemodel, use of the vehicle tracking may be free if a user participates infinding other vehicles, but may cost some nominal amount if the userwants the service-side only, without participating in locating othervehicles. This encourages users to participate in the crowdsourcing. Inother examples, the service may only be available to participating users(i.e., searchers) for example.

In this illustrative example, the process receives a request from a userto register a plate for tracking (thereby allowing tracking of thevehicle to which the plate is affixed or intended to be affixed) 201. Itwould also be possible for a user to register at the time of purchase orlease, where user identity could be easily verified, but this processallows for a later registration if the user elects to participate at alater point or, for example, purchases a used vehicle from anotherowner.

In conjunction with the registration request, the process receives useridentifying information 203 such as, for example, a vehicleidentification number (VIN) allowing a specific vehicle to beidentified. This information may be used in cross-reference with alicense plate number, also received 205. Further, if desired (althoughnot shown), a verification step may involve placing a phone call to aregistered owner or lessee of a vehicle, to confirm the trackingrequest.

Since a request to track a vehicle may be open to the possibility ofabuse, steps may be taken to mitigate any chance that someone other thanthe owner is requesting tracking. These include, for example, theaforementioned phone call and/or the cross referencing with a licenseplate and vehicle identifying information 207. Once the plate has beenverified as corresponding to the requesting vehicle 209 (in thisexample, the request comes from the vehicle itself, input through avehicle display, or from a logged-in user who requests the platetracking in conjunction with the VIN, which may include being loggedinto a user account corresponding to the vehicle), the process can addthe license plate and/or user as permitted to be tracked 215. Again, inthese examples, the license plate itself is tracked, but through findingthe license plate the vehicle and any occupants can be found, so thesecurity measures are taken to prevent abuse. Tracking is then enabledfor any requests pertaining to the registered license plate 217.

If there is no match between the VIN/vehicle and the license plate, inthis example, the process will alert the party attempting to registerthe plate for tracking 211. This can avoid the user accidentallythinking the plate is registered if the wrong information is input.Also, in this example, the person to whom the plate and/or vehiclebelongs may be alerted 213. If there is no record of a plate owner, itmay be the case that only the VIN-corresponding vehicle owner isnotified. In other instances, the plate owner may also be notified sothat both parties know that a tracking request was submitted on behalfof their plate/vehicle. The notification steps can be amended asdesired, and notification upon a match error may not always occur, toavoid unnecessarily alarming people when a mistyped alpha-numericcharacter is input.

Once the registration process is successfully completed, the user canthen request tracking of the vehicle plate via the crowdsourced networkat a later date, and receive any information pertaining to the locationof the vehicle.

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative tracking request process. With respect tothe illustrative embodiments described in this figure, it is noted thata general purpose processor may be temporarily enabled as a specialpurpose processor for the purpose of executing some or all of theexemplary methods shown herein. When executing code providinginstructions to perform some or all steps of the method, the processormay be temporarily repurposed as a special purpose processor, until suchtime as the method is completed. In another example, to the extentappropriate, firmware acting in accordance with a preconfiguredprocessor may cause the processor to act as a special purpose processorprovided for the purpose of performing the method or some reasonablevariation thereof.

In this illustrative example, a user initiates a tracking request for avehicle. In the illustrative embodiments, tracking is done on anon-demand basis, and tracking requests are sent to vehicles based onrequested plates for tracking Here, the process receives a request totrack a plate, input via a mobile app, a PC or similar connection 301.If a vehicle is stolen or missing, or, for example, if a parent wants toknow where a teenage driver is located, this sort of request can be usedto track down a license plate (and the corresponding vehicle).

Also, in this example, localization data is received 303. Although notnecessary, localization data can be used to narrow the subset ofvehicles to which a request is sent, or included with a request sent toall vehicles (and then a vehicle can “determine” if it is in anappropriate locality). For example, the user inputting the request maybe asked where the vehicle was last located, or where the expectedlocation is. The localization data may be broad (a zip code, city orstate) or may be very specific (an address). The data can be used, alongwith time information if input (i.e., when the vehicle was last known tobe in the locality) to determine a likely range where the vehicle mayhave traveled under its own power. On the other hand, the trackingrequest may be widely broadcast without any localization data if thenetwork can handle the volume of requests.

Since the data about plates to be tracked may be transmitted inrelatively short-form (i.e., an encrypted list of plate identifiers in aleast-amount-of-data scenario), it is possible that all plates to betracked can be transmitted to all participating vehicles. On the otherhand, given network and data transfer constraints, it may be desirableto transmit the request to a subset of all vehicles, which are in anexpected proximity to where the vehicle might be located (such as, butnot limited to, a perimeter bounded area defined by the distance avehicle could have traveled at a reasonable top speed within a timesince the vehicle was at a last known location).

Once the appropriate request and accompanying data (if desired) havebeen received, the process may verify that the user is registered totrack the vehicle 305. This may include ensuring that a vehicle has beenregistered for tracking and that a user is registered to track aparticular vehicle. If the verification process succeeds 307, theprocess can add the vehicle plate and/or wireless identification number(more on this below) to a list of vehicles to be tracked 311. Theupdated tracking list can then be sent to all or some appropriate subset(such as location-based) list of vehicles for tracking 313. If therequest cannot be verified, in this example, a plate and/or vehicleowner may be notified that a tracking request was submitted for theirplate or vehicle 309.

FIGS. 4A and 4B show illustrative processes for vehicle identification.With respect to the illustrative embodiments described in these figures,it is noted that a general purpose processor may be temporarily enabledas a special purpose processor for the purpose of executing some or allof the exemplary methods shown herein. When executing code providinginstructions to perform some or all steps of the method, the processormay be temporarily repurposed as a special purpose processor, until suchtime as the method is completed. In another example, to the extentappropriate, firmware acting in accordance with a preconfiguredprocessor may cause the processor to act as a special purpose processorprovided for the purpose of performing the method or some reasonablevariation thereof.

In the example shown in FIG. 4A, a process run on a vehicle attempts todetermine the license plate numbers of any plate visible by a vehiclecamera. These can be plates seen in traffic, in a parking lot, partiallyglimpsed and obstructed by other vehicles, etc. Here, the camerareceives an image including one or more license plates (or partiallicense plates) 401. The image is processed to identify the licenseplates in the image, and extract the character data (e.g., letters andnumbers) from that plate 403.

Since license plates are exposed to the elements, they are subject todeterioration, dirtying and obscuration by snow and other environmentalfactors. Accordingly, it may not always be possible to pick outidentifying information from a license plate. In this process, theexecuting system attempts to determine the letters and number as bestpossible, and then determines if a legible solution was found 405. Ifall letters and numbers cannot be identified, the process determines ifa partial identification was possible 407. The partial identificationcan still be used as a “guess” at a vehicle identity, and may be used tofocus a search to a particular area if another vehicle can confirm orbetter read an obscured or degraded plate. If there is not even apartial set of data (or, for example, if too few letters/numbers areavailable) then the data can be discarded 417.

If the plate was fully legible, the process checks the readletters/numbers against a list of sought plates 409. If the plate is onthe list and there is a match 411, the process may return a currentlocation, the speed and heading (or parked state) of the identifyingvehicle, an image of the plate (for verification purposes, for example)and any other appropriate information 413. In order to protect theprivacy of the reporting entity, reporting vehicle information may bescrubbed and/or never transmitted, but the returned data of the vehiclelocation and heading can be usable to determine a very closeapproximation of the location of the sought-for vehicle. If the legibleplate does not match any sought-for plate on the list, the data isdiscarded in this example.

If there is a partial match, the partial identifiers are compared to thesought-for plate list 413. For example, if the camera could recognizeAN12-- (where the - represent illegible or obstructed characters), andthe list contained a plate request for AN12FF, then a partial matchwould be present. If there is a partial match 415, the process can againreport the location, speed, heading, image, etc. 419 for furtherverification. If there is no match, the data can be discarded.

FIG. 4B shows an illustrative example of another vehicle trackingprocess that relies on vehicle-to-vehicle communication via wirelesstransmission. In this example, a vehicle can broadcast an identifier(license plate, vehicle ID, VIN or other suitable identifier), which canbe encrypted and decryptable by searching vehicles. For example, thisdata could be received by other local vehicles via BLUETOOTH anddecrypted for comparison to search requests. In this example, the systemdoes not need to actually “see” the vehicle. This has both advantagesand disadvantages. Since the vehicle is not necessarily seen, itslocation may only loosely correspond to the reporting vehicle'slocation. On the other hand, location data could be included in theidentifier broadcast if desired. Also, it would be easier to “fake” avehicle signal using this system, since a physical picture of thevehicle is not present. But, at the same time, this would allow vehiclesnext to and ahead of a subject vehicle (i.e., vehicles which cannot“see” the vehicle) to detect the presence of the vehicle. This exampleis presented as another illustration of how a vehicle could be trackedusing crowdsourcing.

In FIG. 4B, a reporting vehicle communicates with a possible subjectvehicle 421 (such as receiving broadcast identification). Thecommunicating vehicles can exchange data 423 (i.e., the reportingvehicle can also report itself to the subject vehicle, since both arepossible participants in the system) or the exchange can be a one-wayreceipt of data by the reporting vehicle. Also, if desired, locationinformation, speed, heading, etc. can be received or exchanged ifdesired 425. This may make it easier to pinpoint the location of anunseen vehicle.

As part of the request, some form of unique vehicle identifier isreceived (license plate, VIN, ID #, etc.) and if the ID matches an ID ona list of sought-vehicles 427, the process can return the relevant data431 (e.g., confirm the match, return speed, location, heading, etc.). Ifthere is no match, the received data can again be discarded 429. It isalso possible to retain data for some period of time, such as untilmemory dictates discarding data, instead of discarding data immediately,or to report the data to a remote resource prior to discarding, but inthe illustrative examples, the data is discarded upon the failure tomatch any sought vehicles.

Prior to sending the list of plates/identifiers, or upon receipt of thelist, a processor can determine the appropriateness/correspondence ofany plates on the list based on a present vehicle location. That is, ifthe list contains an initial vehicle location and a time-last-seen atthe location, the processor can determine if the vehicle could possiblybe located at the processor's current location, if the determination ismade at the vehicle. On the other hand, if the determination is madebefore sending out the request, the processor can determine where avehicle might possibly be located, and send the request to vehiclescurrently traveling or whose heading/destination/speed/locationindicates that those vehicles might soon be traveling within a boundedperimeter in which the subject vehicle might be located. Sorts such asthis can be used to limit the scope of requests if too many requestsexist for a network infrastructure to handle.

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative vehicle tracking reporting process. Withrespect to the illustrative embodiments described in this figure, it isnoted that a general purpose processor may be temporarily enabled as aspecial purpose processor for the purpose of executing some or all ofthe exemplary methods shown herein. When executing code providinginstructions to perform some or all steps of the method, the processormay be temporarily repurposed as a special purpose processor, until suchtime as the method is completed. In another example, to the extentappropriate, firmware acting in accordance with a preconfiguredprocessor may cause the processor to act as a special purpose processorprovided for the purpose of performing the method or some reasonablevariation thereof.

In this illustrative example, the process receives the confirmation of amatch or partial match 501. This process will report the location of avehicle to a requesting owner, once the vehicle is located. Once thematch has been received, the process determines if the match is only apartial one 503. In some examples, partial match data may be discarded,although in this example it is used to further attempt to pinpoint thesubject vehicle.

If the match is a partial one, that is, if the match is not a fullmatch, the process then sends a localized request for confirmation toreceiving vehicles in the immediate vicinity of the identified subjectvehicle 517. This step is not necessary, but can be used to obtainconfirmation of a vehicle location. In other examples, as noted, thelocation data may simply be included in the list transmission to allvehicles, although the location data now will be the location of thereported vehicle, as opposed to the initially input location.

Since, in this example, the match was only partial, the process may waituntil a confirmation (i.e., a full match or another partial match) isreceived 519. This avoids reporting false positives to a vehicle owner.It may be the case that only a partial-confirmation is received 521, atwhich point this process can send a copy of the plate image to therequesting user 523. This will allow the user to visually verify theplate and whether it is affixed to the subject vehicle. On the otherhand, privacy concerns may prevent transmission of anything short of afull match.

If the confirmation comes in the form of a full match 521, or if a fullmatch was initially received 503, the process will alert theowner/requestor of the match and location of the vehicle 505. Again, inthis example, a confirmation request is sent, in case the owner wantsfurther tracking (e.g., the vehicle is moving) or to ensure that thematch wasn't a false positive. Here, a localized (or appropriatevariation) request can be sent 507, and when confirmation (a second fullmatch, for example) is received 509, the process can further alert theowner 511. The process may also persist in the tracking request 513 ifthe user desires, which can result in further requests to vehicles 515to help track a moving vehicle (e.g., if a vehicle is stolen).Otherwise, the process may exit.

By leveraging existing camera technology and/or wireless technology, andby anonymizing data, users can participate and are encouraged toparticipate in a crowdsourced vehicle tracking program. Through use ofan extensive existing-vehicle network, users can quickly and accuratelytrack down missing assets through identification of a vehicle plate, forexample. This can assist a distressed owner in recovering or locating amissing vehicle.

While exemplary embodiments are described above, it is not intended thatthese embodiments describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather,the words used in the specification are words of description rather thanlimitation, and it is understood that various changes may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Additionally, the features of various implementing embodiments may becombined to form further embodiments of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a processor configured to:receive a locate request to find a vehicle plate; verify that thevehicle plate is eligible as a search subject; send a search request toa plurality of reporting vehicles for a search for the vehicle plate;receive a match indicator from a first reporting vehicle, responsive tothe search request; and notify a requesting user of the matchcorresponding to the vehicle plate.
 2. The system of claim 1, whereinthe processor is configured to verify that the vehicle plate is eligibleas a search subject by determining if the vehicle plate is listed in aregistered-plate database.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein theprocessor is further configured to verify that a search-requesting useris eligible to perform a search for the vehicle plate specified in thelocate request.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the processor isconfigured to verify that the search-requesting user is eligible toperform the search by determining a correspondence between the user andthe vehicle plate in a registered-plate database containing a list ofvehicle plates and corresponding registered searchers.
 5. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the processor is configured to add the vehicle plate toa list of requested vehicle plates to be sent in the search request. 6.The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to addvehicle last known location data to the search request.
 7. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the processor is configured to add a time at which avehicle was last at a known location to the search request.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:receive a vehicle last-known location; and send the search request toreporting vehicles within a predetermined proximity to the last knownlocation.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to: receive a time at which a vehicle was at the last knownlocation; and determine the predetermined proximity based on thereceived time.